eh1110

Q: Is There Anything I Can Do About Bad ESN?

Hi everyone,

 

Knowingly, I recently purchased an iPhone with bad ESN off of eBay. The seller and I talked about it, and she told me I should be able to just use it as an iPod (which I was planning on doing). When I got the phone, though, it would not let me avtivate it because there wasn't a SIM card in it. I use T-Mobile, so I decided to get a T-Mobile SIM card for it to plan ahead in case I ever do want to activate it. But when I finally got the SIM card, it said "SIM card is invalid". I talked to the T-Mobile support team, and they said I had to put it on service for 7 days in order to activate it with T-Mobile. So I added the phone to my plan, but it never showed up with having service and NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

 

I think this is because of the bad ESN or that the phone is wired for Sprint. How can I change this? Is there anything I can do about it, anything AT ALL? I'm desperate here. All I need to do is set up the iPhone, becuase I want to just use it as an iPod... I've been through the communities in Apple and T-Mobile, plus searched the Internet. Should I flash the phone? I'm going to a T-Mobile store today to see if I can get it fixed. Please don't say it's hopeless, I've also contacted the seller, hoping she can help me, becuase I feel sort of cheated as she told me I should be able to use it as an iPod with no problem whatsoever. And now I can't even get into the phone

 

Thank you for any help you can give.

iPhone 5c, Bad ESN with Sprint

Posted on Jun 14, 2014 3:15 PM

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Q: Is There Anything I Can Do About Bad ESN?

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  • by Agustomiy,

    Agustomiy Agustomiy Feb 7, 2015 10:31 AM in response to eh1110
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 7, 2015 10:31 AM in response to eh1110

    I Have a blisted phone after I got it back and replaced it. If the phone was locked to a carrier, it should still be able to be started up by using a SIM  from the original carrier. Since my iPhone was unlocked I am able to start up the phone withe any SIM. I just cannot activate it with  tmoble at least. I calied tmo and told them my story and they said it cannot be removed from the blacklist(only REDDINGTON CAN   ).  But I'm able to use it as an iPod or a wifi device. I have even wiped it clean and it started up. Are you saying you cannot get pass the hello screen?

  • by TJBUSMC1973,

    TJBUSMC1973 TJBUSMC1973 Feb 7, 2015 11:20 AM in response to Agustomiy
    Level 5 (7,636 points)
    Feb 7, 2015 11:20 AM in response to Agustomiy

    Agustomiy wrote:

     

    I Have a blisted phone after I got it back and replaced it. If the phone was locked to a carrier, it should still be able to be started up by using a SIM  from the original carrier. Since my iPhone was unlocked I am able to start up the phone withe any SIM. I just cannot activate it with  tmoble at least. I calied tmo and told them my story and they said it cannot be removed from the blacklist(only REDDINGTON CAN   ).  But I'm able to use it as an iPod or a wifi device. I have even wiped it clean and it started up. Are you saying you cannot get pass the hello screen?

     

    I'm pretty sure that in the past six months, the OP has resolved the issue or had their question answered.

  • by Zahir123,

    Zahir123 Zahir123 Dec 17, 2015 9:41 PM in response to Lawrence Finch
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 17, 2015 9:41 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

    Hey Lawrence - I have a unique situation and after reading your answers here, think you may actually know the answer.

     

    I bought a Sprint iphone 6+ with a clean ESN for my girlfriend's mother who intends to use it in Russia (read: only abroad). The sprint iPhone 6 appears the only with hardware compatible with Russia's networks...

     

    Really, really unfortunately, I didn't discover in my early research that Sprint doesn't have a default intl unlock on it's iPhones like the others. You have to request it, despite there being laws for phones to be intl unlocked (apparently their policy circumvents it).

     

    The biggest problem is that the phone is "hotlined." Essentially it was on lease and the owner walked away from all his/her lines and devices, with lots of debts owed to Sprint (on devices + for service). In 1 year, collections comes for it and I imagine it will at that point get the kiss-of-death; a bad ESN. I really had to press a Sprint rep after buying the phone to get this info on it.

     

    So frustrating—I gained a false sense of validation from the ESN status.

     

    I wanted to ask if you think there's a solution that could at least get this phone working abroad?

     

    I've thought through:

    • Can anyone outside sprint do an intl unlock?
    • Do I have any legal right to have it internationally unlocked?
    • Being within warranty, if apple replaced it for some other reason (i.e. on applecare), would I at least not have a phone on Sprint's hitlist?
      • If that did give me a 'fresh start' could I get that replacement phone intl unlocked? Or does Sprint automatically tie it to the original?

     

    Any feedback is helpful, thanks for reading

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